EU Fundamental Rights Agency

EU Sugar Regime

Israel: EU East Jerusalem Report

Lord Triesman: We have not received any correspondence from the Israeli government regarding the EU east Jerusalem report. Following the EU Ministers' discussion on 12 December, the EU analysis was not endorsed and there are no plans for it to be published. Israel is fully aware of EU concerns on east Jerusalem. The EU will continue to make strong representations to the Government of Israel about the matter in the normal way. The British Ambassador in Tel Aviv most recently set these out to the Israeli Director-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 19 December.

Lord Rooker: The net reduction of 678 relates to posts (i.e. staff in post plus vacancies), expressed as whole time equivalents, rather than staff in post as stated in the Question. The reduction of all 678 posts came about through the suppression of posts. None were as a result of a diminution in temporary or casual employees, the transfer of staff and responsibilities outside the Northern Ireland Civil Service, or for other reasons.

Lord Rooker: The office of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is independent of Government in the exercise of its functions. The issues raised should therefore be raised directly with the Police Ombudsman.

Northern Ireland: Brothels

Northern Ireland: Brownlow College

Northern Ireland: Castlereagh Break-In

Northern Ireland: Classroom Assistants

Lord Rooker: The information requested is not readily available. Classroom assistants working in the controlled and in the maintained sectors are employed by the education and library b boards (ELBs) and those working in the Voluntary Grammar School (VGS) and in the Grant Maintained Integrated (GMI) sectors are employed by the individual school board of governors. The Department of Education has written to the respective employers seeking the information required and will write to the noble Lord, Lord Laird, when the information is available.

Lord Rogan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether Denis Donaldson was a double agent; and whether they will set up an independent enquiry into the "Stormontgate affair".

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Probation Board for Northern Ireland supplied funding to any festivals in any of the last three years; if so, which festivals were funded; when they took place; how much was given in each case; and whether they will place copies of the business cases, together with reports on the festivals, in the Library of the House.

Lord Rooker: The Probation Board for Northern Ireland has advised that it has provided grant aid to two festivals in the last three years:
	
		
			  
			 Ardoyne Fleadh Project February 2004 £6,000 
			 Fé-le an Phobail August 2005 £5,220 
		
	
	Each grant was made in response to an application for community development funding rather than a formal business case. Under its established procedures the board considers each application for such funding on its own merits. Reports on the festivals are matters for the organisations concerned.

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether Awards for All in Northern Ireland supplied funding to any festivals in any of the last three years; if so, which festivals were funded; when they took place; how much was given in each case; and whether they will place copies of the business cases, together with reports on the festivals, in the Library of the House.

Northern Ireland: Making Belfast Work and the Londonderry Regeneration Initiative

Northern Ireland: Murder of Immigrants

Northern Ireland: River Designation

Lord Rooker: A list of the rivers in the Greater Belfast area which are designated by the Drainage Council for Northern Ireland and maintained by Rivers Agency to ensure free flow has been placed in the Library of the House.
	The Connswater and Knock Rivers are included in the list as they are also designated watercourses with designation limits as follows.
	
		
			 River Downstream Limit Upstream Limit 
			 Connswater River Downstream end of Connswater Bridge at Sydenham Bypass Confluence Loop and Knock River at Beersbridge Road 
			 Knock River Confluence with the Connswater at Beersbridge Road Upper Newtownards Road at Knock Golf Course.

Northern Ireland: School Closures

Northern Ireland: Stormont Car Parking

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: We welcome the publication of the Anti-Slavery International training kit for identifying trafficked people, which includes useful information for front-line personnel. The Home Office, in consultation with non-government organisations, has already produced a toolkit aimed at front-line police, immigration officers and other agencies and professionals who may come into contact with potential victims of trafficking. It provides generic information and practical advice on identifying victims of trafficking and how to appropriately and fairly deal with them. The toolkit is intended as an additional resource to support local operations. Immigration officers throughout the UK have been made aware of the Home Office toolkit and receive regular briefings to highlight the trends in trafficking. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate is conducting a review of staff training and guidance in 2006 and will consider circulating the Anti-Slavery International training kit as part of this wider work. The type and level of training on human trafficking provided to police officers is a matter for individual police forces. However we will also draw the attention of Centrex (the Central Police Training Authority), who are reviewing police training on trafficking, to the existence of the Anti-Slavery International training kit. Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) are being established in all local authority areas following the requirement set out in the Children Act 2004. DfES will shortly be producing guidance that will set out that it will be the responsibility of the LSCBs to ensure that training and safeguarding and promoting welfare is provided in order to meet individual needs.

Police Authority Debt

Police Funding

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Funding to police authorities comes from two main sources: government grants and revenue raised through the police precept on council tax. Information on government grants to police authorities in England and Wales on a per capita basis is set out in the table. We do not distribute grant to police authorities purely on the basis of population. The police funding formula uses a range of socio-demographic factors to reasonably reflect the relative needs of each authority. Grant allocations also take into account a police authority's ability to raise revenue via the police precept.
	
		Government Grant Funding(1)1 per head of population(2)
		
			 Force 2005–06 
			   
			 Avon & Somerset 125.49 
			 Bedfordshire(3) 125.62 
			 Cambridgeshire(3) 118.97 
			 Cheshire 123.62 
			 Cleveland 177.98 
			 Cumbria 141.44 
			 Derbyshire 119.64 
			 Devon & Cornwall 120.96 
			 Dorset 104.65 
			 Durham 161.61 
			 Dyfed-Powys 121.54 
			 Essex(3) 112.77 
			 Gloucestershire 120.93 
			 Greater Manchester 179.98 
			 Gwent 147.54 
			 Hampshire(3) 119.88 
			 Hertfordshire(3) 114.00 
			 Humberside 147.74 
			 Kent(3) 130.45 
			 Lancashire 146.92 
			 Leicestershire 126.77 
			 Lincolnshire 108.04 
			 Merseyside 206.87 
			 Metropolitan(3) 300.33 
			 Norfolk 118.40 
			 Northamptonshire 117.23 
			 Northumbria 181.36 
			 North Wales 131.70 
			 North Yorkshire 110.74 
			 Nottinghamshire 141.71 
			 South Wales 156.51 
			 South Yorkshire 158.25 
			 Staffordshire 119.66 
			 Suffolk 112.80 
			 Surrey(3) 95.76 
			 Sussex(3) 120.70 
			 Thames Valley(3) 116.87 
			 Warwickshire 111.49 
			 West Mercia 107.12 
			 West Midlands 181.53 
			 West Yorkshire 163.55 
			 Wiltshire 112.89 
		
	
	1 Government funding includes general grant (Home Office police grant, ODPM/Welsh Assembly Government revenue support grant and national non-domestic rates). It also includes specific grants: Crime Fighting Fund, Rural Policing Fund, Basic Command Unit funding, Community Support Officer funding (including, for 2004–05 and 2005–06, round one of the Neighbourhood Policing Fund), Airwave, DNA Expansion Programme, Counter Terrorism funding (MPS only), Street Crime Initiative, Special Priority Payments and capital grants.
	2 Source for resident population figures: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Welsh Assembly Government as used in the calculation of the police funding settlements.
	3 The Home Office also funds 75 per cent. of the cost of the London and south-east allowances for all qualifying officers. These figures are not included within the totals.

Baroness Amos: The Ministry of Defence Chinook helicopters had fulfilled their agreed 28-day deployment mission in support of humanitarian operations. These helicopters formed part of a large United Nations-led helicopter operation that played a crucial role in delivering relief supplies. The Chinooks provided an important heavy lift capacity for the period of their deployment and their work was praised by the United Nations and other humanitarian operations.
	However, at the request of the United Nations, DfID agreed to take on contracts for four Mi8 helicopters for four months as replacements for the Chinooks, as they would be more adaptable to the changing weather conditions at the time and through the winter. This formed part of a package of further support to the United Nations helicopter operation of £5.5 million. DfID has also provided support to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which includes provision of helicopters and through the Ministry of Defence funded the delivery of two Puma helicopters from Spain for the use by the ICRC.